Hi all, as much I would love to jump into the D&D, my 5 month old son is booked in for his cranial surgery on the 2nd of March, so obviously I will not be available in the near future. Hope it all goes well and that the game is a success at the club and I may come along in the future once the dust has settled.

[Warhammer] The Obsidian Knightly Order; The Wondrous Caravan of the Traveller and his Maneaters; Bronze Host of Ka-Sabar; Dragonriders of Caledor; Vain Quest for the Grail, 11th Crusade of Araby; The Throng of Kark Veng;

I'd happily get involved with this again, if we were to run it once a month or so (I know it prob works better on a quick turnaround) but I think as long as everything is tracked well we can make it work in a slow progress to start with.

The new GW Azyrite Ruins look like they could be handy (some walls, trap doors & chests) as some quick throw together 3d bits.

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Monthly sounds excellent and is what I'd like to do, that way I can still get some 40k in every so often (like on the 18th of this month)

My usual game is very much storyline driven, but with this one, I'd like to run it as a continuous line of single-shot quests. That way it's easy for people to join in or be absent for quests without it affecting the flow of the story, and anybody who wants to take over as DM can do so as a different quest-giving leader in the Tower.

Our four heroes from the first quest are the ones who set the rules for the tower; I've spoken to Thokk and he's happy for "help people, smash baddies". Whether it's run by a council of elders, a single Grand Master, how the rankings work, any undesirable classes - is all up to you guys.

The game will take place about 75 years after the intro game, when people, elves, and half-elves have learnt to live in peace; and since then, the Dwarves living on the mountain's slopes have revealed themselves, the Firbolg living in the thickest part of the forest were discovered, and the stout Halfling village grew so large that they split into two, their existence becoming known when one faction moved to find a new home.

Other ships have been caught in the sea currents that swirl around the island, bringing foreigners such as goblins, gnomes, tiefling, and a whole manner of other creatures. This has given birth to an 8th faction - formed of those who were shipwrecked on the island and feel they do not fit in with any of the other societies.

Basically, this makes it open for you to be able to choose any race you wish. The only race I have restrictions on is Dragonborn - if you reeeeally want to use one, let me know.

Classes are entirely up to you. There's a lot of options - 12 classes with a whole stack of diverse subclasses - so you can either write your character's backstory and pick a class based on that, or pick a class you want to play and write your character's backstory around that.

There are 3 main books worth looking at for new players.

The first is the Player's Handbook. This is the main resource. It has spells, the basics of how to play, and most importantly, the basic races and classes. Of the six main races on the island, five of them (elves, humans, half-elves, dwarves, and halflings) can be found in here.

Volo's Guide to Monster's is a great resource if you want to use lesser-known races. The Firbolg race is taken from here, but it also has options such as Aasimar (celestial half-breeds), Kenku (crow-people), and Lizardfolk.

Xanathar's Guide to Everything has additional spells and subclass options. For example, English's Arcane Archer subclass is taken from this book. The Rogue's coolest subclasses come from here too, IMO.

The other two core books - the Dungeon Master's Guide and the Monster Manual - are mostly guides for a DM. Having read them thoroughly, there really isn't a lot for players in there.

.....My usual game is very much storyline driven, but with this one, I'd like to run it as a continuous line of single-shot quests. That way it's easy for people to join in or be absent for quests without it affecting the flow of the story, and anybody who wants to take over as DM can do so as a different quest-giving leader in the Tower.

Our four heroes from the first quest are the ones who set the rules for the tower; I've spoken to Thokk and he's happy for "help people, smash baddies". Whether it's run by a council of elders, a single Grand Master, how the rankings work, any undesirable classes - is all up to you guys......

Yeah sounds good, so while all the quests will sort of link, like you say its not a total reliance on 1 band of characters progressing along a timeline.

Call me simple...., but can you explain a bit more detail the last part about the 'tower rules' (I've turned red ^) ie. what does running it mean? whether by 1 Master/Council) + rankings etc.

Where would I have to look for Tiefling stuff??

If we get this going I'm happy to be somewhat of a Sribe (Help produce an island map, + add in more things as they are created/keep track of common locations descriptors etc to keep some consistency along the way) & any other general creative style stuff I'd be happy to help in too.

Yeah sounds good, so while all the quests will sort of link, like you say its not a total reliance on 1 band of characters progressing along a timeline.

Yep, exactly. There will be an overarching theme and eventually a climax to a story where I'll encourage everyone to join, but mostly, each episode is a standalone adventure and can be played or not played as people wish.

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Call me simple...., but can you explain a bit more detail the last part about the 'tower rules' (I've turned red ^) ie. what does running it mean? whether by 1 Master/Council) + rankings etc.

It's actually pretty inconsequential; I just like to give players some kind of control over how the world looks. It's setting up storyline stuff, more or less.

Zhoron, Thokk, Robin Hood, and Bruce became champions of the island; they took the Tower; and they turned it into a tower of heroes. They help those who need it and train those who want to become heroes themselves.

So as the tower grew, it gained structures. Who is in charge of the tower - would the four of you have elected a leader, or would you have formed a council of decision makers? Who decides who is a leader/council member - can you get there simply through promotion in the ranks? How is it decided who goes on quests - is it allocated to whoever is free, shared around evenly? Does the council give the quests, or is there a particular admin job for it? Things like that.

Something to note - in 75 years, Thokk, Robin Hood, and Bruce have all more than likely fallen to old age. Zhoron is an elf, however, and has a lifespan of up to 750 years, so is likely still alive.

I am happy to write it, but again, I like to give my players some kind of say in how the world they're adventuring looks.

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Where would I have to look for Tiefling stuff??

Player's Handbook.

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If we get this going I'm happy to be somewhat of a Sribe (Help produce an island map, + add in more things as they are created/keep track of common locations descriptors etc to keep some consistency along the way) & any other general creative style stuff I'd be happy to help in too.

That would be excellent. I've bought a notebook which I'll use to keep track of things and make notes, and I'll keep a digital notepad too, but any help is appreciated, especially when it comes to maps (which I am just hopeless with)

.....It's actually pretty inconsequential; I just like to give players some kind of control over how the world looks. It's setting up storyline stuff, more or less.

Zhoron, Thokk, Robin Hood, and Bruce became champions of the island; they took the Tower; and they turned it into a tower of heroes. They help those who need it and train those who want to become heroes themselves.

So as the tower grew, it gained structures. Who is in charge of the tower - would the four of you have elected a leader, or would you have formed a council of decision makers? Who decides who is a leader/council member - can you get there simply through promotion in the ranks? How is it decided who goes on quests - is it allocated to whoever is free, shared around evenly? Does the council give the quests, or is there a particular admin job for it? Things like that.

Something to note - in 75 years, Thokk, Robin Hood, and Bruce have all more than likely fallen to old age. Zhoron is an elf, however, and has a lifespan of up to 750 years, so is likely still alive.

I am happy to write it, but again, I like to give my players some kind of say in how the world they're adventuring looks......

Ok, so its just lore/fluff we have to work out amongst ourselves (wasn't sure if it was actual rule based sort of stuff) + a little of how we'll structure stuff a bit organisation/play wise.

Yeah I figured the 75 year advance would take 2 of us out (wasn't 100% on where a Half-Orc livespan was....though I'm sure any offspring could just be called Thokk aswell), though I'm pretty sure Robin didn't die of old age (gung-ho attitude/missing an eye/looking for mythical princess either took its toll Or Zhoron/Bruce took matters into their own hands haha)

Alright then I'll think of ideas & then we can start blending them into 1 tale.

Ok, so its just lore/fluff we have to work out amongst ourselves (wasn't sure if it was actual rule based sort of stuff) + a little of how we'll structure stuff a bit organisation/play wise.

Yeah I figured the 75 year advance would take 2 of us out (wasn't 100% on where a Half-Orc livespan was....though I'm sure any offspring could just be called Thokk aswell), though I'm pretty sure Robin didn't die of old age (gung-ho attitude/missing an eye/looking for mythical princess either took its toll Or Zhoron/Bruce took matters into their own hands haha)

Alright then I'll think of ideas & then we can start blending them into 1 tale.

Yeah, all lore and fluff. There's no rules, but it'll affect the world around you and will have possible plot implications.

Half-orcs rarely live past 75, ageing noticeably faster than other races. Tieflings live a little longer than humans, but nowhere near in the span of Elves.

If we're all going to be at the club on the 18th, we'll talk about it some more there and decide on the structure of the tower. Once that's done, and you've got some characters, I've already got a first quest in mind...